For the past month, Lakes ILC secretary Lisa Kent and I have invited students to attend Snack and Learns in the ILC on Fridays during their lunch study halls.

We started with Origami. Then we tried Team Trivia (my first time using the Mondopad!). Then we introduced students to our digital media library, Axis360. Then we did game day. Checkers, chess, Uno—that sort of thing. Next up: We’ve invited staff member of the Talon Times to present on how students can use social media to stay up-to-date with school happenings and more.

​We think we might be on to something.

The biggest fans of our Snack and Learns are freshmen and sophomores. We have regulars. Many of them even ask us for a preview of what they can expect from next week’s Snack and Learn. Unsurprisingly, they also want to know the snack. On average, we see about 75-100 students over the course of the six 25-minute periods.

Little do they know that we’re tricking them into learning. They read instructions to complete the frog base fold or the bird base fold. They collaborate with their teams to determine the answer to trivia questions. They have to be strategic about that game of chess (I lost to a sophomore). And they have to toy around with their personal devices and apps to checkout e-books.

They struggle.They help each other.They make new friends.They learn.They snack.It’s been fun.

We are open to Snack and Learn ideas and welcome opportunities to collaborate with teachers. In the future, I hope to integrate more makerspace activities, such as bristlebots. What is a makerspace?What is a bristlebot?Read about what Antioch has been doing with 3D printing in their ILC—perhaps the start of a makerspace—in a recent post by ILC Director Barb Mason.